US Army Air Force

San Pancrazio Airfield

United States National Archives

San Pancrazio Airfield, Southern Italy, early 1944: maintenance crews work on an engine swap on a B-24 Liberator of the USAAF’s 47th Bombardment Wing, 376th Bombardment Group, 512th Bombardment Squadron, 15th Air Force. The 376th BG was at San Pancrazio from 17 November 1943 to 19 April 1945. Built in 1943 by United States Army Engineers, San Pancrazio Airfield, located approximately 4 km NE of San Pancrazio Salentino, Brindisi Province, Apulia, on the SE Italy coast, was a base of 15th Air Force’s heavy strategic bombers of the 376th and 451st Bombardment Groups, 5 March-6 April 1944, both equipped with B-24 Liberator. On Autumn 1943 San Pancrazio was used also by two 12th Air Force’s air tactical groups: 82d Fighter Group, P-38 Lightning, from 3 to 10 October 1943, and 340th Bombardment Group, B-25 Mitchell, from 16 October to 19 November 1943. Victor Sierra